Mark Gottfried is hoping to do a better job of recruiting in North Carolina than his predecessor Sidney Lowe did

New N.C. State basketball coach Mark Gottfried had an informal get-together with some of the reporters who cover the Wolfpack on Wednesday at a restaurant across the street from the RBC Center.

The event was designed as an opportunity for Gottfried, his staff and the media to get to know one another. But afterwards, the former Alabama coach and ESPN analyst took some time to do a short interview — during which he said that all the seven scholarship players still on the Wolfpack’s roster will be back again next season.

When asked if he’s still in the market to add anyone else, specifically a backup point guard to help fill the void left by the recent transfer of Ryan Harrow, Gotttfried said he’d be interested only if the recruit is good enough to step in and contribute right away.

“Obviously, if it’s the right guy,” Gottfried said. “That’s the dilemma of what you’re asking. You can just go add a guy who can provide you some depth, but maybe he’s not good enough in the long haul. Or do you wait and just kind of wait and roll the dice now and try to knock one out of the park next year?

“We’re open to the fact that we could add somebody, but it’s not something that’s imperative that we go sign a guy just to have a guy.”

Among the most realistic options available to the new State coach are junior college players, including Josh Mason of State College of Florida-Manatee, Lonnie Hayes of Missouri State-West Plains and Terrell Lipkins of Northland (Minn.) Community College.

If Gottfried chooses to wait a year, especially now that five-star prospect Rodney Purvis of Raleigh has backed off from a commitment to Louisville and has identified State as one of the schools he’s interested in attending, he’ll have to find a backup ballhandler from a group that includes senior forward C.J. Williams, junior forward Scott Wood or incoming freshman shooting guard Jaquan Raymond.

Brown

Lorenzo Brown, last year’s starting shooting guard, is expected to shift over to the point now that Harrow has been released from his scholarship and will move to another school.

One player whose role won’t change much is forward C.J. Leslie, though Gottfried is hoping to get him to make better and more consistent use of his skills than he did as a freshman.

After numerous conversations with the former McDonald’s All-America, Gottfried and his staff — particularly assistant Orlando Early — think they’ve made the kind of connection with Leslie that will help him make the most of his still unlimited potential.

“I know where he wants to go and I feel like I know the road map to get there,” Gottfried said. “We’ve just got to make sure we’re both together to get from here to there. So far we have. I think he’s been terrific. I’ve been very pleased with everything about him.”

As far as recruiting in general is concerned, Gottfried said he was surprised to learn that many prominent high school coaches around North Carolina haven’t heard from the Wolfpack in awhile. That’s something he plans to change by putting an emphasis on concentrating on players from inside the state first, then branching out nationally.

“The easiest thing to do is to coach somebody else’s team and I’m not one of those guys who likes to be critical of the past coaches or anybody,” Gottfried said. “Everybody does what they think is best. For us, I want to put an emphasis on reaching out to these coaches right now.

“Our (assistant) coaches have been on the phones around the clock, trying to make sure they know that now, this staff wants to make that a priority.”

While Gottfried’s immediate focus has been on recruiting North Carolina and getting settled into his old surroundings, he couldn’t help but be a little distracted by the recent tornado outbreak across the Southeast. As a graduate of Alabama whose family is still living on the Gulf Coast of that state, the new coach called the destruction that happened in places such as Tuscaloosa “devastating.

“I did have a niece that lost a good friend, a student at Alabama, so that was a little bit close to home. But for the most part my friends are fine,” he said. “They’re devastated. It’s just a sad situation there.”